Cigarette lighter with baffle

ABSTRACT

A cigarette lighter operating on gaseous fuel, wherein the burner orifice is carried by a pivoting lever controlling the opening of the gas outlet, at least one groove closed on itself and concentric to the gas outlet orifice being associated with as many lips engaging said groove or grooves, the assembly constituting a labyrinth-like baffle system.

United States Patent [191 Chevallier Nov. 19, 1974 CIGARETTE LIGHTER WITH BAFFLE [56] References Cited [75] Inventor: Pierre Chevallier, UN TED STATES PATEN S Sainte-Foy-Los-Lyon, France 3,601,517 8/1971 Rosenthal 43l/277 [73] Assignee: Etablissements Genoud & Cie.

Societe Anonyme, venissieux Primary Exammer-Carroll B. Dorlty, Jr. (Rhone) France Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Karl F. Ross; Herbert Dubno [22] Filed: Apr. 5, 1973 [21] App]. No.: 348,106 ABSTRACT A cigarette lighter operating on gaseous fuel, wherein [30] Foreign Application Priority Data the burner orifice is carried by a pivoting lever controlling the opening of the gas outlet, at least one Apr. 7, 1972 France 72.12863 groove closed on itself and concentric to the g Outlet orifice being associated with as many lips engaging 431/344 43 3 said groove or grooves, the assembly constituting a la- [58] Field of Search 431/344, 276, 277, 254 bynmh'l'ke baffle System 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures lf' 'fi l 7 [0/ 4 \6 v I I, I 4- II .7 I I If V I I," 6 A .//'v/- I f x/l/l I i fl, i

I CIGARETTE LIGHTER WITH BAFFLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to cigarette lighters of the type utilizing gaseous fuel and is directed to specific improvements in devices of this character.

In a cigarette lighter operating on gaseous fuel and wherein the burner outlet orifice is formed in a pivoting lever adapted, when manually operated, to free the gasoutlet orifice, a seal or gasket must be provided to avoid any lateral escape of gas, thereby forcing the gas to flow only through the burner orifice.

The present invention is concerned with an improved arrangement whereby this or any seal or gasket can be dispensed with.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention consists in substituting for the conventional gasket or seal one or more labyrinth-forming baffles comprising at least one groove closed on itself and concentric with the gas-outlet orifice, this groove having a blank engageable by a lip of corresponding contour also continuous and closed on itself.

If a plurality of such baffles are provided they are concentric with each other with, of course, the same arrangement for the lips co-acting therewith.

The aforesaid groove or grooves may be formed either on the fixed head of the lighter (in which case the corresponding lip or lips is or are formed on or carried by the pivoting control lever, or in said lever, the lips being formed in or carried by the body. These grooves and lips may have a circular or polygonal contour.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A clearer understanding of this invention will be had if reference is made to the attached diagrammatic drawing illustrating a typical combination of such baffle means. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 illustrates the device in the closed position, and

FIG. 2 shows the same device in its open position.

As shown in the drawing, the reference numeral I designates the cover formed with a projecting pushdown portion 2 and the burner outlet orifice 3, this lever I being fulcrumed about a fixed pivot pin 4 carried by the body or head of the lighter 5; a spring 6 constantly urges this lever 1 toward its closed position in which a valve-forming washer 7 is pressed against the seat-forming outlet end of the gas-outlet passage 8.

According to this invention, at least one relatively deep groove 9 closed on itself (two such grooves being shown in the drawing) is formed in the head 5, and the lever 1 comprises the same number of lips 10 also closed on themselves and engaging (i.e., being received in) these grooves.

Thus, upon depression of the projecting or pushdown portion 2 of lever l, the valve-forming washer 7 is unseated to permit the escape of gas through the burner orifice 3.

Due to the resistance encountered by the gas along the relatively long path left by the labyrinth-forming baffles constituted by the co-acting grooves and lips 9 and 10, respectively, this gas flows preferentially and only through the burner orifice 3 due to the lower resistance encountered for this flow.

Of course, and as clearly apparent from the foregoing, this invention should not be construed as being strictly limited by the specific embodiment described hereinabove and shown in the dagrammatic drawing attached hereto, since many modifications and variations may be contemplated without departing from the basic principle of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim as new is:

I. In a cigarette lighter operating with gaseous fuel and having a body provided with a member formed with an outlet orifice for the gaseous fuel, and a lever member pivotally mounted on said body for selectively opening and closing said orifice, the improvement wherein:

one of said members is formed with a plurality of concentric grooves open in the direction of the other member and each extending endlessly around said orifice; said other of said members is formed with a respective lip received in each groove between the flanks thereof, said lips projecting in the direction of said one of said members and extending endlessly around said orifice to form a labyrinth seal with said flanks of said grooves, said lever including a burner outlet orifice; and a valve-forming washer located between said burner outlet orifice and said 

1. In a cigarette lighter operating with gaseous fuel and having a body provided with a member formed with an outlet orifice for the gaseous fuel, and a lever member pivotally mounted on said body for selectively opening and closing said orifice, the improvement wherein: one of said members is formed with a plurality of concentric grooves open in the direction of the other member and each extending endlessly around said orifice; said other of said members is formed with a respective lip received in each groove between the flanks thereof, said lips projecting in the direction of said one of said members and extending endlessly around said orifice to form a labyrinth seal with said flanks of said grooves, said lever including a burner outlet orifice; and a valve-forming washer located between said burner outlet orifice and said body outlet orifice. 